Or, welcome to my low-maintenance heck.

Charles Johnson over at LGF has taken note of something going on over at my very own George Mason University, which seems to be brewing a touch of controversy. Going there, I can attest that there is quite a formidable Muslim presence on campus, and that the Muslims do lay claim, fully, to the prayer areas mentioned in Charles' article.

What Charles doesn't mention, most likely because he's one of the few conservatives brave enough to live in the state of fruits and nuts rather than the grand Old Dominion, is that the University also constructed ritual foot-washing basins in every bathroom of the Johnson Center. Guess which "pseudoethnic" group uses them the most?

(Incidentally, the University is also seeking a new Halal vendor for the campus cafeterias as well, since apparently the MSA can't be bothered to arrange for their own vending contracts to come on campus. The previous vendor was kicked out due to health code violations—oops.)

It goes without saying that George Mason University is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Saudi government at this point. But trust me, folks, it gets better from here!

(Beth, I smile every time I refer to California as the "land of fruits and nuts!" Note that GMU doesn't have a campus Chapel, so MSA isn't encroaching on it, they're merely expanding their control over the "common" space reserved for "religious reflection.")

At present, after all of the kind dhimmitude shown towards Muslims on campus, the Muslim Student Association is demanding their own mosque-on-campus, which is fine, considering there is a Chapel. Of course, there is some slight difference between the MSA's request, and the reality of the campus chapel:

For one, the Catholic Chapel is located on the far reaches of campus. It's so unofficial that it's not even listed on the campus map!

To further illustrate the point, let me point out that the Catholic Student Ministry bought private land neighboring the campus, and built their own Chapel there with their own funds, and that of Catholic donors throughout the area.

The MSA?

Well, let's just say that when they're done with it, all of we Virginians will have contributed money to benefit them.

John Lewis is an individual who, among other things, proposes the idea of full fledged war against those whose ideological background conflicts with American norms and standards. In doing so, Lewis demonizes Islam and Muslims, deliberately takes Islamic beliefs out of context, and advocates “immediate, personal destruction” for every Muslim individual and cleric who chooses not to renounce the Islamic State. Such sentiments should not only be condemned, but are truly frightening for people who value the principles of living in a pluralistic society.

The principles of living in a pluralistic society... of the ISLAMIC STATE?

I also live in a town with a George Mason University - Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. The university has been running for a couple of years now and a couple of its main selling points are that it is:

a) Open to students of all nationalitites (unlike much of higher education in the country, which is restricted to nationals only)

b) Offers students the opportunity to finish their studies in the USA once they have completed their foundation courses.

The fact that the MSA is asking for things (ablution facilities, a prayer room, Halal food) that are normal in educational institutes throughout this region is hardly surprising when you consider that your campus may soon be swelled with students coming over from our campus, the vast majority of whom will be Muslim.

However, I should point out that political (or religious) activism is extremely rare in universities in the Gulf, much less so than institutes of higher education in the USA or Europe. Indeed, many of the 9/11 terrorists were not radicalised to action when they were living in Arabia, but while living and studying in Germany.

I would be interested to see how the new students from my part of the world react when they encounter the freedom and passion of student politics in the states - something that they heretofor have little experience of.

#5 alum 08-May-2007

Do THIS, GMU, and I'll not give you any money nor will as MANY OTHER ALUMS AS I CAN TALK WITH GIVE ANY.

You are digging your own grave.

#6 Victoria 08-May-2007

So Brian, I'm sure there are others who share your thoughts, what are you going to do about it? Start your own student group to fight the MSA on your terms! You know the government won't do anything and neither will the admin if the non-muslim students don't object. Get the word out to other student groups across the nation and start *SOMETHING*! If you don't stand up to this no one else will take up the cause. This is *YOUR* university! *STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS*

#7 Sam Deakins 08-May-2007

George Muhammed Mason University..brings tears to my eyes. Getting nostalgic for the good days of college life and how I whiled away my time washing my feet at the footbasins.

I have blogged on this article at Northern Virginiastan. Please visit us at http://northernvirginiastan.blogspot.com and add us to your blogroll. I'd like to get more news from insiders about Muslim accomodations at local campuses.

#9 captainfish 09-May-2007

Lehihamra,First, almost all universities across this nation will accept international students.

Second, No, acquiescing to muslim wishes for on-campus mosque and foot-basins and special food are not common. If you want a prayer room why not just meet at a friend's house and pray in the living room like many other religions do. Why task the taxpayers to fund your religion?

Third, I find it very hard to believe that there is little political activism in the "Gulf", because of all the people who are wanting to uproot their governments in that "region". Why bring that political activism over here? We allow you and your bretheren to come over here and be who you are. We take it as an insult that you want to try and change OUR world to SUIT yours.

Fourth, you may be correct that they did not turn radical until they went to Germany, but that proves nothing. A good man has no evil in his heart wherever he lives. But, we also know how heavy-handed Saudia Arabia is with its dissidents. And we also know how fluid the money-pipe is from Saudia Arabia to American mosques to fuel anti-american feelings. And Germany is a land of "expect the best of people and not the worst" like America.

Fifth, we accept most anyone from most anywhere if they come here to better their lives and those around them. All we ask is that you recognize that you are coming to America and not your home away from home.

#10 Lehihamra 09-May-2007

Captainfish

The point I was trying to make(unsucessfully in your case, obviously) was that the students at university campuses in the USA or Europe tend to be more politically active than the students at campuses in the Gulf countries - the UAE, Saudi, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar etc. Here the students tend to be rather apathetic about things and they are certainly not encouraged to set up students groups or have students' unions.

I was wondering how the students from my town, who have had little experience of this sort of thing, will react when they move to GMU in Virginia which, I assume, has a wide variety of student groups covering all sorts of political, religious and cultural issues.

And just a couple of points on your more heated rhetoric:

You said "We allow you and your bretheren to come over here and be who you are. We take it as an insult that you want to try and change OUR world to SUIT yours."

Well, I am not sure if "allow" is the right word. "Charge a lot of money to" might be more accurate.

And what exactly do you mean by OUR world? Is this a world that excludes people from other nations, cultures or religions? Do you own all of this world or just the parts you live on? How did you get this world of yours? Has it always been yours or did you take it from someone else?

I saw this article over at Atlas Shrugs (my god what a beautiful woman!) and then followed it over to this article at SnappedShot.com about the islamification of George Mason University. Seems the “enlightened leaders” at GMU are going to ...

#12 captainfish 09-May-2007

My apologies for that "our world" words. I was trying to say "culture" or "country. Late-night writing.

But to the main point, just because people from another country are not normally "politically active" in their home country, does not excuse the extreme activism in this, their visiting country. You would think it would be the other way around. If I were to pay a large sum of my family's money to attend a university in a foreign nation, I would'nt be spending my time trying to change that nation's ways, culture or the operational methodologies of the university.

If I had a problem with the university, then I would do my best to transfer to a university that would better fit my "culture".

#13 dp 10-May-2007

Isn't this a form of segregation? Something that we worked so hard to get rid of in the 1960'?

#14 captainfish 11-May-2007

Segregation? What are you calling segregation?

Is enrolling in a univeristy similar to your culture segregation? No.

Is having seperate religious areas within a univesity segregation? No.

Is having a religous culture separate from a state-funded university segregation? No.

Segregation is FORCING people to be seperated based on some aspect of their being, i.e. race or gender. Thus the reason why the male-only military schools were forced to accept women into their schools despite their being women-only schools as well. Now there are whole bunch of sexual problems cropping up at these schools.

Segregation would be to force poor kids into one school and rich kids in another. Having a religion NOT have a preference within the university is not segregation.

Athiests and liberals love to point out a separation between "church and state". According to recent rulings and ACLU, institutions paid for with tax-money can not host, support, promote, mention, recognize, or even hint that there are religions. So, with the GMU actively remodeling its Center to the whims of the Muslim faith while keeping the other religions secluded to a far away building's "closet" shows that there is a definite bias AGAINST said religions. And shows a preference for, or a fear of, the Muslim faith.

Segregation would force the Muslims OUT of campus all together into their OWN campus.

I chose to attend a university that was Christian friendly. This university is attended by thousands of people from all over the world representing many faiths. But, NO ONE is trying to push its faith over anyone. These religions have their places off campus while also having their own university sponsored clubs (which my overpriced tuition pays for, UGH). There is no special preference and all groups are treated the same. The antithesis of segregation.

#15 Islam RULES 28-Jul-2007

First of all, YOU sound like a "hick" and you don't know the first thing about islam so you basically have no RIGHT to talk. Im sick of you white-trash who think that they own everything. GMU is very diverse and ISLAMIC students are a HUGE part of this community; so WE should have room to pray:) UR DONE.

Thanks for making my point for me, I. Rules. And even though you do think that you're "more equal" than the rest of us, attitudes like this will definitely not make you any friends around the campus.

#17 Natch 13-Sep-2007

The point is this:

Those two Muslim students who forced the Catholic student to stop praying using his rosary BULLIED a member of another religion out of what's supposed to be a non-denominational or "openly multi-denominational" quiet prayer area. It isn't the MSA's defacto mosque. Sure, Muslim students have every right to exercise their religion as any other American of other religions does, but to push or bully others out of that public area, and to make the assumption that just because barely anyone else uses it it automatically becomes exclusive to the MSA, is 100% WRONG.

The choice for the MSA is clear. Either:

1) Tolerate members of other religions using an area that is supposed to be open to EVERYONE when they come to pray,

OR

2) Lobby the university to set up a prayer area SPECIFICALLY for Muslims

Failing that, why not ask your wealthy Saudi patrons (doesn't MSA-national get Saudi funding?) for the funds to be provided to GMU to set up an on-campus mosque exclusively for use by Muslims, in the same way as the Catholics or Protestants might have their own chapels on campus...something a lot of universities have either on or directly off campus.

MSA needs to understand that such bullying is interpreted by students of other religions as the local MSA effort to expand the Caliphate and push other religions OUT. While pushing other religions out may well be sanctioned in Qur'an, the fact is that this is STILL the United States and any place designated as open to all members of the student public will be viewed by non-Muslims as being open for their equal-opportunity prayer use too. This is a treasured cultural value here in the US and by not respecting it, the MSA is certainly not winning friends to Islam. Instead, it's making enemies that way.Think about it. The flashpoint is teh bullying of other religions away from that space when it was originally intended for EVERYONE.

#18 WhackaDhimmi 05-Aug-2008

I must have missed this article the first time around!

Can I wash my stinkfoot in the foot baths, too?

Time to start lobbying for a Holy Water Font at my local Madrassa!

#19 I'm.an.american.too 25-Mar-2011

I was born in Virgina. I was raised in Virginia. I have an American Passport and have family members in the Marines. I'm a student at George Mason University and I must say, Muslims are a big part of the university. As one of you have mentioned that Muslim students are bullying other religious groups out of the prayer room, you're right, it shouldn't be happening. We live in a country that believes in religious tolerance and no one is above the law whether you're Christians, Jewish or Muslim.If you want to live in this country you need to respect those rights and laws. HOWEVER. Every student group has the right to ask or demand their University for things they need. The Muslim students want a prayer place of their own so they DON'T need to keep having problems with sharing the prayer rooms. They're asking the University to provide Halal food because they can't eat meat that isn't butchered the Islamic way...and if I recall don't the Jews have a little thing called Kosher? It's Great that the Christians could build a Church right next to the campus but they too had to get funding from somewhere...and let's face it, if it's people like you that are surrounding the Muslims who's going to "voluntarily" fund the building of a mosque? So what if all the bathrooms in the campus have washing basins for the Muslims? In their religion you have to purify yourself before going to pray to God. Is having these basins really bothering you that much? You call yourselves Americans? These people have the right to as much as any other American. Just because they believe in something else and have different traditions does not give you the right to say that what they are asking for is unjust. Did you forget where we Americans came from? What we were molded from? We came here to get away from the religious oppression of England. We came here to practice our religion freely as we pleased. Why go and strip those rights and make it difficult for those of other belief systems? You're doing the same exact thing England did to our ancestors. How can you call yourself a true American when you can't even tolerate your fellow Americans. Just because they believe something different. Just because some of them wear head scarves and read a book other than the bible? It's shameful. And I can bet that anyone who has a problem with Islam hasn't even bothered to educate themselves about the religion. How can you allow yourself to speak ill of another religion and call them a "Pseudoethnic" group when you know absolutely nothing about them? I'm a Christian and feel like we're the ones living in a fake Christian world. We have hundreds of versions of the bible! Why? Because some people decided to change it to suit their lives. The Muslims have protected their book for hundreds of years and they all follow ONE version.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this hate and fear of Muslims needs to disappear because it's getting ridiculous. Instead of being an Islamaphobe go do some research that doesn't include the internet, Fox News, or Politicians. Get to know them and really understand them before making assumptions. We're living with these people we might as well take the time to get to know who they truly are and not what American politicians and Islamaphobes have made them out to be. Be a true American and take initiative. Don't be a hater.